Saturday, March 14, 2015

The title of today's blog entry comes from my husband, who on seeing the card said, "Ah! This card comes with strings attached?" ???These two cards are using some watercoloured backgrounds I made while playing around for a commission I was recently doing.

The first one was just a smooshed colour thing where I smooched colours onto a wet panel of watercolour paper and waited to see what happened. While it wasn't suitable for my commission, I liked the combination of colours, so thought I'd play with the My Favorite Things Weekly Sketch Challenge No. 219.

I basically took all of the elements of this sketch and threw them in a pile. I used the Lawn Fawn Cuts Stitched Hillside Borders dies to cut the slight wave of gold glittered cardstock and also a Lawn Fawn stamp for the sentiment.

I tried to make the card more dynamic by switching the direction of the large strip and having the sentiment strip crossing over the top. To tie it all together, I added some lime green twine. I really like how the twine looks because it almost looks like the My Favorite Things Die-namics LJD Scribbles flower die cut. Almost???! I'd love to get my hands on those die and coordinating stamp sets.This is the first time I've done a MFT Sketch Challenge. I hope they don't block my site for totally destroying their sketch. :)

My second card is for my dad's birthday in two weeks time. It also uses a watercoloured background that was created with some embossing paste, a stencil and then watercolouring in the blanks. I wiped the paint off the embossed circles so they showed up brightly. Loved this effect, but once again wasn't suitable for the commission I had been working on - this was a little too masculine. The sequins really set off this card design. I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Anyway, bye for now. I'll be back in another couple of days with some more watercoloured backgrounds I have still left over.

Love,

Janelle

P.S. It was only after I had posted this entry that I realised it was my 100th blog post. Wow! I've enjoyed my time over the past 3 years and am looking forward to many more years and posts to come.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

A month ago, my Mum tripped while walking along the street in her retirement complex. She face-planted the bitumen and ended up being taken to hospital. This is what I saw when I finally got there (I had to phone a number of hospitals in the area before I found out which one she was in). (It's not a flattering photo, at all!)

She severely bruised her right eye socket and cheek, as well as her chin, left knee and hip. She also cut her lip and broke two teeth. Miraculously, she did not break any bones or require any stitches etc. Considering she is 79 years old, I reckon that's incredible. She stayed in hospital for four days and then came home with me for another four days, as she had a really severe concussion. I'm pleased to say that she's now mostly recovered, except for her teeth (She did have a dentist's appointment that she didn't keep, but that's another story) and her damaged glasses.The reason I'm sharing this is because I disappear off the blog landscape for long periods of time, and I often feel guilty about not spending more time of my blog and cards (though I did also have two commissions for the magazines during this same time). ~O~ (That's me with my hands in the air, shrugging) But with me, family always comes first.But I'm able to share this birthday card, today, that I made using a "make and take" from Craft Giraffe a couple of weeks's ago during their Silly Weekend Sale. I made it with help of Tracey Cooley from Couture Creations. (She's such a scream. I'm looking forward to catching up with her again in June at the Papercraft Expo here in Brisbane.) I love the layering we put on the paper (which started off plain white).

Anyway, this card is for my niece who's 11 today, so "Happy Birthday, Sarah!"I'll be back soon with some cards I've made from practice pieces while I was researching for a series of cards I made using watercoloured backgrounds. Wait and see!Bye for now.Love,Janelle

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About Me

Hi, I'm Janelle. I'm a stay-at-home wife to a very caring and understanding hubby and mum of a 14 year-old boy. I've been cardmaking for a long time (working on the design team for Practical Publishing for the past five years). I also enjoy walks on the beach, candlelit dinners and romantic music, (Oh sorry, wrong blog!!!)